Chairman and CEO Sándor Csányi bought 300,000 OTP shares of HUF 100 nominal value on Dec. 16 under the rules of OTP’s manager share option program. According to sources, Csányi paid only about one-fifth of the HUF 5,665 closing price of OTP shares on the same day. Through the transaction, Csányi increased his stake to 2.175 million shares, of OTP’s total 280 million shares, putting the market value of his stake to about HUF 12 billion.

Two days earlier two deputy CEOs sold OTP shares. Csaba Lantos unloaded 20,000 OTP shares, while Antal Pongrácz 10,000, for HUF 5,498 a piece. On Dec. 21, deputy CEO László Wolf sold 6,000 shares at HUF 5,633.

OTP executives can receive OTP shares as a bonus or they can buy them at a discount price, according to OTP’s management share option program. In the latter case, the executives pay half the price the shares traded for on the stock exchange between March 31 and May 31, 2004, or between HUF 3,639 and HUF 4,379, respectively.

The executives use up their share purchase quota before the end of the year, because they will not be allowed to trade OTP shares from the year-end until the bank’s books for 2004 are approved, most likely by April 30, 2005. OTP share prices have more than doubled since the beginning of 2004.